How To Stop Lipsticks From Darkening Your Lips - Check Dermatologist's Advice

Lipsticks are women's favourite makeup items and something that most adult women use on a daily basis. But chemicals present in lipstick can turn your lips dark after a certain time. So what can you do to prevent them? Read on to know what experts say.

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Lipsticks are one of the most popular makeup items and a beautiful shade can immediately lift a woman's entire persona. While most women love their lipsticks, there's one problem. Prolonged use of lipstick over a period of time can lead to darkening of lips, thanks to certain chemicals present in them. Dr Manasi Shirolikar, Consultant Dermatologist, tells us about the reason why lipstick can turn your lips dark and the steps to take to prevent them.

What Causes Lips To Turn Dark 

"Certain lipsticks can contain chemicals such as ricinoleic acid, fatty acid esters, magnesium, ester gum, chromium, and coal tar dyes, to name a few. These chemicals can irritate the skin of the lips, and cause pigmented contact cheilitis, lip eczema, or dermatitis, which shows up on the lips as lip pigmentation. Pigmentation or hyperpigmentation is what is commonly known as the darkening of the lips. It could be in the form of patches or overall darkening of the lips," shares Dr Manasi Shirolikar who is also the founder of the online consulting brand, drmanasiskin.com.

Matte Lipstick Vs Glossy Lipstick - Which One Should You Pick

While matte lipsticks are the current favourite of many, Dr Manasi points out that matte lipsticks are made with alcohol, wax, and pigment, and do not contain as much (or even any) oil as glossy lipstick. "These tend to dry out the lips. When any surface of the skin gets dry or dehydrated, the tendency of the skin to become pigmented is higher. Lips, as it is, do not have sebaceous glands, which means they do not produce any oils to keep them hydrated or moisturized. Add matte lipsticks to the factor, especially if you are prone to lip eczema, and you have a guaranteed recipe for disaster aka dark, hyperpigmented lips," shares Dr Manasi.

4 Tips To Prevent Lips From Turning Dark

So, how do you prevent lipsticks from darkening your lips? Dr Manasi shares four important tips. Read on:

1. Make sure your lips are not chapped or dried. Use a good quality lip balm, and if need be, slug your lips before bedtime. Lip slugging means first applying a lip balm to your lips, and then coating them with a layer of petroleum jelly. These will ensure you have moisturized lips, which will save them from becoming hyperpigmented.

2. Avoid matte lipsticks as far as possible - as mentioned above, matte lipsticks are extremely drying to the lips. Avoiding them would help prevent your lips from becoming pigmented. If you do, however, wish to use matte lipsticks, make sure your lips are not dry or chapped. Coat them in a thin layer of lip balm, or even a lip primer, to protect and moisturize them, and then apply the matte lipstick. Also, make sure you apply a thin layer of matte lipstick, instead of going over and over and applying multiple layers - the thicker the layers, the drier your lips will get and the darker the patches would be.

3. If possible, opt for lipsticks that are formulated with Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamin E, Olive Oil, Amino Acids, Castor Oil, Petroleum, Cocoa Butter, Lanolin, or Mineral Oil to ensure your lips are well moisturized and hydrated. This would help prevent the darkening of the lips.

4. An optional suggestion that can possibly work wonders: Replace your lipsticks with a Tinted Lip Balm that will not only hydrate your lips but also give them a colour like lipstick would, without any fear of lip pigmentation!